I Know You Love Me Too
by shipatfirstsight
Summary: Klaroline drabble series
1. How Klaus Got the Bracelet

**Some housekeeping stuff, for anyone new this is a continuation of my previous drabble series ****_I Know You Love Me_****. It's not necessary to read that to read this one, but I might do further continuations from there, but I'll post the chapters that they're in. To any people that read the first series and decided to stick around, thank you.**

**Rated M: Things get smutty sometimes but I'll always say if it is first.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Diaries or the characters herein **

**Of Princess, Queens, and Goddesses or How Klaus Got the Bracelet **

**So drabble for this post**

Klaus held her in his arms as their breathing calmed, her head pillowed on his naked chest. One of his hand's traced paters up her back while the other toyed with the bracelet firmly attached to her wrist since the night she had gone to him five years before. "Where'd you get it anyway?" She murmured softly, sleepily, her eyes still firmly shut.

He chuckled softly, remembering when and where, and why he felt the need to give it to her after their first actual conversation. "I told you the truth all that time ago sweet Caroline. I got it from a princess almost as—"

"Beautiful as me. I know, I know, but I want the story behind it Klaus." She paused then, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "Please."

He sighed softly, still smiling though, before he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to her temple. "You know I can't deny you anything. I was in Denmark at the time, and it was 1786 I believe. The young princess, Louise, was about to be married. Her mother, Caroline," the Caroline at his side gasped before giggling quietly and he waited for her to quiet before continuing, "her mother had just given her a horse for her Christmas. The girl had never felt the need to learn before then, she had been afraid of them. Anyway, she was riding and the horse threw her, and I happend to be nearby. I was able to catch her before she received any permanent damage."

"So you're capable of being nice then?" She asked, raised brow and all. He glowered at her playfully for a moment, poking her side in consternation.

"You know that better than anyone love. Louise felt the need to reward my kindness in any case, and she gave me that bracelet in payment. It was a beautiful thing, so I accepted it, feeling it might be worth something to someone else someday."

"Oh." She said when he seemed to be done, her brow scrunching. "You said she was beautiful though, so I assumed—"

He cut her off with another laugh. "She was fourteen then, Caroline. Not even I would stoop that low, though she was to be married four months later. No, I had an affair with her later, when she was older."

"You slept with a queen?" She choked out, indignation clear in her tone.

"Umhmm," he murmured, hearing the jealousy in her voice, flipping her over and trailing soft kisses over her chest. "But I happen to be sleeping with a goddess now, so she can't compare."

Caroline swatted his shoulder playfully before pulling him in, kissing his lips deeply, before pulling away. "Thank you for telling me."

And after that, well, they didn't have time for talking.


	2. You Brought Me Back

**You Brought Me Back**

**4x22 AU of the Rebekah/Caroline scene. Klaroline. I'm pretty sure it ended up being semi-fluffy**

_Keep cutting. Need to bleed. _She wanted to stop, she knew that she had to stop, all logic pointed to that, her survival instinct pointed to that, but she couldn't stop, no matter how much she wanted to. _Need to bleed._

The worst part was that Caroline could hear everything, she could hear the panic in Matt and Rebekah's voices, she could hear them telling her to stop, and she wanted to, but she couldn't. Silas was too powerful for her. She had thought, foolishly perhaps, that being a vampire would remove all her weakness, and she was still just... collateral damage.

She couldn't fight this, so she kept carving into her wrist, the pain making her want to stop every time, and she couldn't. She hadn't felt this helpless... she hadn't even felt this helpless with Klaus in the Gilbert house. And she had thought she would die then. No, but this was far worse. Losing her free will, her power to stop herself from doing this was horrible.

Then she felt it, the unmistakable feel of her phone pressed against her ear, and the familiar accented voice that she... that she missed. And he was telling her the same things that Matt and Rebekah had, that she needed to stop, but it was different.

_Don't do this to yourself Caroline._

_You're stronger than him._

_You can fight this, love, I know you can._

_Come back to me._

And the feeling, the feeling that she _had_ to hurt herself disappeared with those last four words. With a gasp she threw away the sharp object in her hand, griping the phone to her ear as her skin knit itself back together and her breathing calmed to his voice. _That's it Caroline, you're alright now love. You're safe._

"You brought me back. Thank you." She whispered, an echo of his words to her, and through the panic that she could now discern in his voice, she could sense he was smiling with his next words.

"Anything for you."


	3. As Long As it Takes

**As Long As it Takes**

**Sorry the first two are so short and it took so long for another one to get written! It was finals week, but now I'm on vacation and I should have more time to write. Anyway, 4X23 Reaction drabble. **

"There's a letter from a Miss Forbes for you Niklaus. Do you want it?"

His control had nearly snapped. He had nearly given himself away to his brother, nearly revealed his innermost feelings, feelings that he didn't trust Elijah with. So he continued painting, eyes never leaving the canvas when all he wanted to do was rush across the room and tear it from his brother's grasp. "Leave it on the table."

An agonizing ten minutes followed, and he counted every second of them, as he forced himself to wait. But that was all he could take. As soon as his internal clock hit the ten minute mark, he set down his brush. Somehow, though he wouldn't know how, he managed to walk calmly to where the letter lay, opening it with caution, not ripping into the envelope as he longed to do. To say he was surprised at the contents would be an understatement.

_You are Cordially Invited to the Graduation Ceremony of Caroline Forbes_

* * *

She wanted him to be there with her? He tried to quash the hope that was bubbling in him; she would never want him, would she? But why had she invited him then? He would go, if only to see if there was an ulterior motive behind her invitation.

Klaus hadn't thought he would be here again; he had thought that he had left Mystic Falls for good, though he would never forget her. He smiled slightly when he pulled out his phone; honestly, she was worse than Stefan with the number of messages left on his phone. He sobered quickly though.

His plan here was simple; find a seat, watch Caroline graduate, deliver his present, say his goodbyes. Break his only remaining tie with this place as it were. Leave this town for good, and maybe try to move on past her.

And then he heard Caroline's cries of pain; he knew they were hers, he would know it anywhere he was sure. His heart squeezed painfully in his chest, and he fought his inner panic. Without hesitating, he picked up a handful of graduation caps, rushing toward the sound.

And the smile she gave him after he killed the witch? It was worth it. It was worth everything that he had gone through to know that she invited him here on what she considered the most important day of her life, that he was important enough to have there with her. That she smiled at him when she saw him. She was, and she would always be worth it. And he knew that he couldn't just say goodbye.

* * *

"He's your first love. I intend to be your last. However long it takes." He knew this was the right choice; he would always love her, always wait for her, always accept her with open arms, but the timing wasn't right. He had been expecting her to move on past Tyler to him, because he wanted her to. But one of the things he admired most about her was he loyalty. What he would do to earn that. He would wait for her; there was no moving on, not for him, not past this.

And he told himself that a kiss placed on her cheek would be enough if he was wrong and she never came to him. That the hand she placed without hesitance in his was a sign that she would chose him eventually.

It was the hardest choice he had ever had to make; to let her go. To put it in her hands; to have the chance that he would never be with her. But he had to do this right; he wouldn't have her chose him just because she couldn't be with Tyler. If she chose to be with him, he wanted it to be because she wanted him over Tyler. That she wanted him for him, like he wanted her for her.

Still, he nearly jumped when she leaned her head into his arm. "Thank you." She whispered, and he tightened his grip on her hand in response. Caroline stopped moving though, and pulled her head away. He turned toward her, looking at her curiously. "I'm not saying that you're right or wrong. I'm only technically seventeen though Klaus. And you're, you're a thousand years old. That's a little terrifying for me honestly. But I can't shake you, no matter how hard I try or how hard I pretend I really want to. I'm not saying yes, because I can't right now, but maybe."

It was enough.


	4. Colder Weather

**Colder Weather**

**Requested Angst. Set in an AU of 4x22. I'm just going to say character death and things get a little violent.**

Caroline walked back into the Grill after a quick trip to send out her graduation announcements, surprised to find the restaurant empty. "Matt?" She called, looking into the back room. "Elena?"

No one. An uneasy feeling filled her, but she pressed on. "Rebekah?"

She walked into the back office, wondering if they had by chance gone there; she would admit that by this point she was scared, desperate. She turned back, pulling out her cell phone. "Caroline, there you are."

Her head shot up, finding that her ears hadn't deceived her. And her eyes didn't seem to be either. A familiar sight met her; black jeans, tight henley, jacket covering the ensemble, necklaces that begged to be tugged on. A face she couldn't forget, head covered by curls just growing back in, curls that she had missed. Curls she had had fantasy after fantasy of pulling on in a heated moment. "Klaus." and then reality caught up with her and she remembered that she had already been tricked once before. "Is it really you?"

"Of course it is, love. Who else would it be?"

Despite his words, something was off with him, and even though she wanted to believe him, she couldn't deny that her uneasiness only grew in his presence. Because, it wasn't him, and she could pinpoint the tiny details that revealed that to her. His stance was off, for one; Klaus stood tall, proud, and strong. This man in front of her who wore Klaus' face stood with shoulders slumped; something about him screamed humility to her, a sense of submissiveness. And the way he was looking at her; it wasn't Klaus' piercing gaze, the way he seemed to see straight through her, and yet still revealed the emotion he felt for her. This man had no emotion in his eyes; she saw nothing there. _Silas._

She was running through the stock racks then, pushing them behind her, only hoping to get out of the room, somewhere safe. Caroline could see the door, it was right in sight. She would be fine; everything would be fine. She would call Klaus and tell him to get his ass back here and help with the Silas problem and she would pretend to be angry at him when he came back, because _of course _he would come for her right? And then they would smile and laugh as they inevitably did, and maybe this time, after everything she would act on her feelings for him and finally kiss his lips as she'd been longing to do, because immortal or not life was too short and she wanted that before-

A death grip on her arm, pulling her back around. A hand on her throat, squeezing, and she could feel her windpipes begin to collapse in protest, her breathing growing shorter. She clawed at the hand on her throat, but he was too strong. And she wanted to cry to beg, to even ask him to not kill her using the face of the man she almost loved, but no sound would leave her mouth. Until a metal rod from one of the racks was stabbed through her stomach, and she cried out in pain when he released her throat, her body fighting to heal itself even as the rod exited through her back and was lodged into the wall. His leg connected with her knee, and she screamed with the crunch of her own bones.

Then his hand was at her throat once more, another gripping her wrists as she tried to rip the pole from her stomach, and she turned her head from his face, much as she had that day in the woods. "Bonnie has been lying to me again Caroline. She does it for you, you and your friends that it. Mostly Elena, but you already knew that. No one really wants _you,_ Caroline. You have always been, and you always will be second best. Think about it. Your father left you for Stephan, your mother chose her job over you, Damon used you to get to Elena, Stefan chose Elena over you, Bonnie chose Elena over you, Tyler chose Hayley and his pack over you, and Klaus chose New Orleans and his life there over you. You'd be doing everyone a favor if you died."

She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting back her tears. Something about his words, the words that had played over and over in her own head, said through Klaus' lips in Klaus' voice, cut her straight to the bone, worse than any physical damage ever could. "No, no, no, no."

"No?" Silas asked, laughter in his voice. "And whyever not?"

Her eyes flashed open, staring him dead in the eye, and she tried to gather every last bit of hatred in her, put all that venom into her words. "They love me, I know they do, in their own messed up ways, they all care for me, and I will never give up living."

Silas laughed again. "I can see why Klaus loves you. Such inner fire. Too bad that you don't really have a say in whether you live or die any more."

Caroline Forbes. Eternally seventeen. Vampire barbie. Strong, fearless, full of light. Loved by one of the most powerful creatures on earth. And she felt every second of what followed. The hand pressing into her chest. His cruel eyes as he stared at her, her mouth gaping open as he squeezed her heart. The laughing sneer on his face as he twisted the organ, and as he pulled, she drifted, until finally, she was no more.

A welcome surprise amidst all the other surprises. An invitation to Caroline's graduation. One of the most important days of her human life, one of the last few experiences she would be able to have with her mother, her still human friends and family. And she wanted him there for the experience.

Klaus was in a word, happy. The last time he had been happy, truly happy as he would define it, was when she had come to him for a prom dress. Another human experience that he knew was important to her.

So of course he made plans to leave New Orleans, only for a day, but he would be there for her. She wanted him to be there. She wanted _him _there. Maybe, maybe it wasn't as he feared. Maybe he had a fighting chance.

"Klaus, what are you doing back in Mystic Falls?"

He turned at the sound of his old friends voice, smiling slightly in his direction. "Caroline invited me to her graduation, and I wanted to be here for her." And he watched, his earlier happiness turning cold at the expression on Stefan's face.

"You don't know, how would you? Silas, he found her alone Klaus. He killed her."

No. His mind screamed in protest. It wasn't possible. She couldn't die. He still had to, he had to show her the world. He had to show her the art, the music, the food. He had to tell her that she was right, that he loved her. He had to know if she would ever love him. He had to hold her, kiss her, love her body, not because of lust but because he wanted, he needed, to know her in every way possible. He would show her that blood sharing wasn't something to fear, that it could bring immense pleasure. He would, he would introduce her to everything, everyone, and she would know that he loved her. She would know just how beautiful she was to him. She couldn't be dead.

"Of course I'm not dead Klaus."

He could breath again then, because there she was. Standing in front of him, whole and beautiful as ever. "Caroline." He sighed, better, whole again, because of course Stefan had been wrong.

"But did you ever think that I could really love you? After all you've done to me, to everyone I love and care about. You can't be loved Klaus."

His heart squeezed painfully, but a part of him didn't care in that moment if she ever loved him as he loved her. She was alive, that was all that mattered.

"You weren't here Klaus. He chased me. He hurt me, he almost killed me, and you weren't here. You were off with Hayley, making plans for more babies I'm guessing."

"What? How do you-" But she couldn't. He hadn't told her about that, not wanting to lose her, not willing to explain quite yet. And he was sure no one else would have. His mind raced, to the oddities in how she was speaking, that Stefan had disappeared when Caroline had appeared. "Silas."

"Oh very good. Not nearly as fast as your girl here. You know, I like her form, it distracts you quite well. She's really dead you know. I killed her, wearing your face."

He moved forward, knowing that he couldn't kill the immortal, but wanting to cause some damage.

A laugh sounded all around him on the deserted street. "You're not nearly fast enough for me Klaus." A metal rod shoved through his stomach as he groaned in pain. He ripped it out quickly enough, but the pressure on his knee, breaking the bone stopped him for a moment, his breath gasping at the pain. It wasn't extreme, he had felt far worse pains, but something, something about Silas-

"Those are the same wounds I gave her. Before I ripped out her heart of course, but I can't really do that to you, now can I? So I'll leave you here, and you can know that you left her vulnerable, alone, open to attack. And she's dead now, just like everyone you've ever loved, anyone you love, anyone you will love will end up. Enjoy your loneliness Klaus. It suits you."

And he was alone then, as he had always been, as he always would be. And for the first time in a long time, he longed for death.


	5. Thoughts of You

**This is for Krissy because I love her, and it's quite possibly the most awkward thing I have ever written. Mature content warning. Set during 4x18, but this is AU. Who needs canon anyway? **

The smell of Caroline was here even as he showered away the grit and grime of the day, the physical remnants of his ordeal with Silas leaving him with only the memory remaining, and if he closed his eyes he could almost imagine that Caroline was with him under the spray of the water. That she was helping to clean his body, and of course he would return the favor. Klaus would kiss skin of her neck when they were both clean, and then he would take her against the shower wall. It was easy to form such a fantasy when she was in his house with him, of her own free will. And the memory of her hands on his back, nails scraping his skin, made him wish for the feeling in a much different way.

Namely her body writhing under his as he brought her pleasure she had only dreamed of, her nails carving a path in his skin bringing him pleasure in return.

Almost without realizing the action his hand had taken, he gripped himself in his hand, and suddenly he was imagining Caroline grasping his length instead. If he hadn't been hard already, he most certainly would have been with that thought and the tantalizing images that came with it. His imagination ran wild, ranging from images of her hands on him, bringing him release that way, to her getting down on her knees in front of him, taking him into her mouth, her blonde head bobbing up and down below him... he gripped himself tightly in response. Nothing he could do though would bring him the true release he sought... release from the beautiful hands of Caroline Forbes... from her mouth... in her body, their bodies moving together, fitting together... he was gripping and pulling himself furiously by this point, and he was so close, so close to the release he sought...

Caroline picked up Klaus' dirty clothes from the floor of his bedroom, resisting her sudden urge to sift through his clothes and satisfy her curiosity to see if the feared original wore boxers or briefs or nothing... and once again her mind had strayed into very dangerous territory. The image of what lay beneath the pants he wore, and her imagination was spurred on by the memory of herself pressed back into his chest as she drank his blood, his hard length pushing into her; she wondered how after everything that had happened that night only two things seemed to matter. He loved her, and even after everything he had done she wanted him. She swore that she could almost hear him grunting in pleasure.

But no, that wasn't her overactive (and sexually deprived) mind at work once more. She could hear him, the sounds of Klaus unmistakably pleasuring himself stirring her own arousal, and she felt a wet heat spread between her thighs at the thought of what he was obviously doing. And the smell of him all around her wasn't doing anything to rectify the situation.

At this point, she had two options: join Klaus as she obviously wanted, and she suspected he wouldn't mind the intrusion, or follow in his path and bring her own release. She wanted to join him, more than anything, but were they really there yet? She needed some kind of relief though, and she slipped her hand past the waistband of her jeans, into her panties, her fingers stroking along her folds... It wasn't enough. She wanted his fingers, the calloused fingers that had gripped her hand minutes before.

She could, it would be so easy. She could strip the clothes from her skin, she could join him. She could find the release she truly wanted. She truly needed. Or she could continue to ignore the confusing feelings swirling in her.

Caroline dropped his clothes back to the floor, stripped the sweater from her shoulder, shimmed out of her jeans and panties, tugged her shirt off over her head, unclasped her bra, and did the thing she had wanted to do for months.

She didn't give herself up. She didn't give into him. Caroline gave into the part of herself that had always been there, and to resist these feelings any longer would only hurt her in the long run.

Klaus didn't open his eyes when she entered the shower, and she had a strong suspicion that he didn't even know she was there yet. Her eyes traveled down from his face, across the hard planes of his chest that she had already seen earlier that day, to his red, swollen length clasped in his hands. And she bit her lip, suddenly nervous, but spurred on when he choked out her name, she knelt before him, pushed him hands away, ignored his "Caroline?". She placed a kiss on his tip, smiling inwardly when he groaned in response to the little action.

She swept her tongue on the underside of him, around to the front again, running her tongue up and down, loving his taste, the texture of him... then he was grabbing onto her hair, not hard enough to hurt, taking himself into his hand and guiding her mouth onto it. Caroline would have laughed at his impatience, because wasn't it so like him to want some control over even this?, but she was wholly focused on the task at hand. She took him in, felt his tip against the back of her throat, took the rest of his impressive length in her hand. She moved her mouth up and down over him, not removing her lips from around him even when he let out a strangled, "Caroline I'm about to-". She took in all of him, swallowing every drop of the release that she had brought him.

Klaus hadn't expected Caroline to join him, much less fulfill his fantasy. He couldn't say that he was disappointed though; quite the opposite in fact. And when his body had found the release he so desperately sought, the prevailing scent of her arousal hit him and he placed his hands on her arms, pulled her up to her feet. He dipped his head down, kissing her lips, tasting himself there, before he moved his hands down, grabbed her ass and lifted her body up. He nudged her legs up with his elbows as he lowered his body down to the shower floor, and her legs wrapped around his shoulders as he had hoped they would.

Klaus placed a kiss against her folds before he moved his tongue out and tasted her, he responding gasp pleasing him in ways he hadn't know a mere sound could. Her legs tightened around him, her hands moved into his hair. He tasted her juices, all for him, and he continued moving his tongue against her. Her scream of pleasure from his attentions was enough for him to know that he had done this. Caroline had wanted him, had come to him, had come for him, and he felt himself begin to harden again in response.

He gave her no reprieve, but kept a firm grip on her waist as he moved back to his feet, lifted her up, and buried himself in her depths as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He pushed her into the wall, traced kisses over her neck as he had wanted to, moved in and out of her as he had wanted to for so long, kissed her lips long and deep, his tongue sweeping out and entering her mouth, their tongues clashing, fighting for dominance.

It was one thing to have her mouth on him, it was an entirely other experience to actually be inside of her, feel her hips move against his to meet his thrusts, her nails scratching down his back.

It was better. It was more. In that moment, it was everything.

**A/N: not really sure where I went with this, but after the last drabble I figured some smut was in order. Drabbles are going to be a little slow in the coming weeks, working on a full length fic that I'm super excited about, but I'll try to do a couple here and there. Thanks for reading!**


	6. Only You

**Only You**

**Dark!Klaroline smut for Krissy 3 (P.S. Not sure how dark this actually ended up being, I apologize).**

**Title (and drabble) inspired by Only You by Ellie Goulding**

The best part about the rain was that she could use it as an excuse. An excuse for shelter, to see him, to be with him. It was ridiculous, horrible, and he would see right through her. But she could hide behind the meager defense, and could fill the longing to see him.

Caroline had been in New Orleans for two years. Things had happened in Mystic Falls, and even though she would always love her friends, it was time for her to move on. To be her own person.

And then she realized that drama was everywhere. That bad things could happen in any town, and even when it seemed that it was only her hometown, she knew now that that wasn't the case. Klaus having a child though? That was beyond belief, beyond drama.

She had laughed when she found out.

It had to be a joke right? She couldn't have finally decided to give him an actual chance only to have that happen right?

But it was true, cruelly true. Still, she couldn't leave, though she rarely saw Klaus. She went to Tulane, she studied and she worked toward a degree, all the while still pretending that she had to go through these normal human life experiences, and she avoided him. She avoided Rebekah and Elijah. And she especially avoided Hayley.

She couldn't ignore the longing glances Klaus shot her though when they were in the same room. His searching gaze burning into her, breaking down the walls of her resistance inch by inch. It was a slow burn, a long process, a process of healing and admitting that she wanted him.

Badly.

Fighting him in the first place had always been a futile effort. She couldn't fight him, couldn't fight the feelings he stirred in her, no matter how much she felt that she should. Caroline didn't want to fight them though, not anymore.

So maybe the rain wasn't such a bad excuse after all.

It wasn't like he had approached her either, and maybe it was time that she took the first step.

Was it embarrassment that kept him from her? Regret? Guilt? Fear of rejection? Or had he simply gotten over her? Was his gaze not longing as she thought, but a desperate plea for her to leave so he could be happy with the one new member of his family?

She hurt. Her heart hurt to know that even with Hayley dead and gone, her usefulness, Klaus' need to protect her, leaving her unprotected and alone as soon as Desdemona (a last revenge on Hayley's part, given that the name meant of the devil) was born and named.

Hayley was dead in an hour, killed by Marcel's henchmen.

Caroline wasn't entirely sure how she had survived. She knew that Marcel must suspect that she was important to Klaus. And yet she lived on.

In any case, she missed talking to Klaus. She missed seeing him and really being able to appreciate spending time with him. She missed the way he made her feel, the way he looked at her, and she wanted it back.

Child or no. She had to know if he still cared for her, if he could love her again. Because she was pretty sure that she loved him.

She wasn't really sure when that had happened, but she couldn't ignore the truth of it. She loved Klaus Mikaelson. More than she had ever loved anyone before, and she was scared to know that simple truth. Because she knew she could fall more in love with him. He would be it for her.

If he still wanted her, that was.

It was her... it was her demon. She couldn't believe that whatever feelings he had for her were very strong. And his treatment of her, his staunch avoidal of any contact with her, did nothing to help her beliefs.

Caroline had to know though. She had to be sure, absolutely sure. She wouldn't be that person again, the insecure girl that she hated.

So she acted like she used to. She walked into Klaus' house looking for all the world like she owned the place.

Only to be pressed against a wall by her throat, a gasping breath leaving her.

She'd barely regained her senses, when she heard his voice. Clearly, spoken directly to her, for the first time in two years. "Caroline?" The hand on her throat lessened it's hold before a new pressure was on her skin.

His lips on hers. All the pent up passion of nearly three years escaping him. And with a soft sigh, she kissed him back, her arms looping around his neck.

She didn't care about talking anymore. She didn't care about his feelings, her feelings, all that mattered was the feeling of his lips moving on hers, his tongue moving out tentatively, so tentatively, and she marveled that he could be tentative still with her, to meet hers. And then his confidence seemed to return, his tongue plunging into her mouth, and their sweet kiss became all tongues and teeth. A fight for dominance, neither caring who won.

Caroline gasped in surprise when she felt a sharp sting on her lip, recognized the feel of a bite, and slowly realized that it wasn't a horrible feeling, if the wet heat spreading between her thighs was any indication. Her fangs instinctively dropped in response, and she returned the favor, nipping his lip, drawing his blood. She had missed this too; she liked drinking his blood. Blood was food for her. It was as simple as that. But his blood was... euphoric. An aphrodisiac.

When she had had her fill- for now- she realized that his claws were digging into her hips. Again, it wasn't painful, though it should have been. It brought her only more pleasure.

With a few simple movements of her hands, his shirt was torn from his body. She was poised, ready to shed her own shirt, to get them undressed as quickly as possible, move this along, feel their bodies moving together toward ecstasy, when the baby monitor on the table crackled. Soft cries coming through, evidence of the dreams of Klaus' child.

With a shove, she pushed him away from her. All her anger and hurt returning in one sudden, breathless moment.

Pain and rejection flashed in his eyes, but she didn't give it a chance to register before she was on him again, pinning him to the wall this time, heard the plaster crack in protest. She kissed him. She needed to kiss him. Needed to forget that she could have lost him because of her foolish pride, her misguided sense of right and wrong. She pressed her body harder into his.

Klaus seemed to regain his senses, flipping them back around, ever having the need to remain in control. Their kisses were hard, demanding, and their nails dug into the others skin.

It wasn't about love anymore. It was claiming, raw and primal, an animal desire to show the other that there would be no other but them ever again. Only them, together, possibly until the end of time.

The wall crumbled behind her, the loss of its support sending them both tumbling town on top of the wreckage. Caroline didn't care. Klaus didn't care. They were too lost in each other, to care. The world could be ending, and she didn't think they would ever give a shit.

Some things, some feelings, were more important than a little wreckage.

He moved his lips off of hers, lips traveling down even as she tried to catch her breath while burying her hands into his hair. One of his hands traveled down between her thighs, cupping her through the material of her jeans, and she arched into his touch, wanting the barrier gone. Wanting to feel his hands on her. His mouth found her pulse point, sucking at her skin, before she felt the prick of his fangs again. Klaus drank her blood in long draughts, leaving her breathless, aching, thirsty.

As if he sensed her need, and she found herself questioning if that was indeed one of his many talents, he took his fangs out of her skin, baring his neck to her. That wasn't enough for her though. She wanted him powerless beneath her, breathless, wanting more of her. So she wrapped her legs around his waist, and with a sharp twist, he was on his back under her. She smirked at his groan when she shifted her hips over his hardening length. Tutted in displeasure at him when he tried to turn them back over. "You had your turn, Klaus. Give me a chance to be in charge." She leaned down, licking a path down his neck. "Who knows, you might enjoy it."

"That's doubtful love." He breathed out, only to stop with another groan when she undid his pants, hand sliding in to find his member, gripping him in her hand.

She lifted her head to look him in the eye, pleased to see that his lids were heavy, his breath quickening. "You were saying?"

Klaus glared at her for a moment, before pressing the back of her head back to his neck. She rolled her eyes, but took the hint anyway. It wasn't like she wouldn't enjoy drinking from him as he had from her, even if she sensed that the combination of her hand on him and her mouth sucking the blood from him would push him over the edge. It was very likely that he would return the favor.

So she returned her lips to their earlier position, finding the pulse point, concentrating on the blood flowing under his skin, felt her fangs drop as the veins under her eyes protruded.

It was better like this, Caroline realized, when she could take long gulps of his blood, when she wasn't limited to the paltry amount that came out of the small bite she had made in his lip.

And then she realized the game he had been playing when she felt the world shift, the rubble at her back once more. It didn't matter much to her though when he removed her hand from his pants, gripping both of her wrists suddenly in one hand, placing them above her head. She knew without being told that he wanted her to keep them there. So she would acquiesce, for now.

He moved, pushing her face gently away from his throat, resting on his heels between her legs, looking down at her hungrily. And yet his touch contrasted with the fire in his eyes. He pulled her shoes off slowly, never breaking eye contact with her, before moving his hands to her pants, tugging them down inch by inch. And again, she realized what he was doing. He wanted her to beg, and she was about ready to give in, but his patience only lasted so long, a fact for which she was glad. He tore her pants the rest of the way off, ripped the sheer fabric of her panties. Caroline lay bare before his gaze.

Klaus looked at her face one final time before his eyes moved down. She fought the urge to cover herself up, to blush. No one had ever looked at her like that though, like she was utterly and completely- "Beautiful." He murmured, voicing her thoughts, placing a kiss against her folds. Before his lips moved away, the opposite of where she wanted them, and she fought the urge to tug his head back, to show his malcontent in some way. Then his teeth pressed into the skin of her thigh, and she couldn't find it in her to care, especially when two of his fingers separated her folds, finding her clit. She arched her back again; she understood now, in a way she had never thought she would be able to before, the pleasure of blood sharing.

And she wondered if it was because of the combination of him drinking down her blood, the pull of his lips sending shockwaves of pleasure straight to her core, and his fingers on and in her that sent her over the edge so quickly, or if it was just him. If he was really just that good.

She had a strong suspicion that it was the latter.

Caroline saw him smirk down at her through her own now heavy lids, finding that while one part of her longed to slap the smirk from his face, the other would much rather pull him down to her, have their lips connect again. Rid them both of their constricting clothing and finally be joined together.

Her suspicions about him being able to read her mind were all but confirmed when he lifted her gently, tugging her shirt off and over her head, unclasping her bra and flinging it across the room.

The broken pieces of wall, getting more broken up by the second as Klaus pushed her against it, dig into her back; a pleasurable kind of pain once more. Caroline tugged Klaus down to her, biting into the skin of his shoulder, loving his hiss of pleasure (all for her), the hands that dug back into her hips once more (because of her).

Blood. Wonderful, life-giving blood. By the time she regained her senses, he was as naked as she was, and though she longed to know how he had managed that without her knowledge, there were more important issues at hand.

Like Klaus spreading her legs wide, positioning himself at her entrance. Pushing his hips forward, entering her slowly, inch by inch.

It was the last time they moved slow, becoming desperate after that. Caroline's nails dug into his back, shredding the skin, only for the skin to heal and her to repeat the process. Klaus nipped at her skin, leaving tiny bites, licking the blood away. His tongue moved to her breast, swirling the nipple with his tongue, biting down, drawing blood away, repeating the same action on her other breast. She cried out, moaned his name, begged him to never, ever stop, her nails digging in deeper, harsher, trying to get him closer to her. Closer, ever closer, and it would never be close enough.

A new addiction then. Blood, human blood that was, Klaus' blood, Klaus biting into her skin, and Klaus moving his hips against hers, pounding into her, setting a furious pace that left her both breathless and screaming, back arched, pulling his closer against her body.

Exactly what she had been so afraid of, in what seemed like a lifetime ago in Mystic Falls. Except now, she didn't care if she was addicted. She would gladly be addicted to this, and she suspected that he felt the same about her.

She had no time for thinking after that; his thrusts became quicker, less precise. And then they fell.

Ecstasy. Together.

Caroline woke in tangle sheets, bones and muscles sore, and she smiled, stretching in his bed, inhaling his scent. It was a first for her as a vampire to wake up sore after a night of passionate, albeit continually violent (she counted a wall, a couch, two windows, four tables, and a very old desk, not to mention the various precious artifacts that had been destroyed in their hasty combination of lovemaking and fucking) sex.

Blood was speckled on her skin still, hers and his. On the sheets around her. On the hard planes of his chest when she turned in his embrace. She knew too that some of he blood was of the women he had called in when they had taken a break from their activities, both hungry, both needing the energy. And though they could have fed from each other again, Klaus insisted that she needed human blood. She relented; she relented to him, to the vampire side she had repressed for so long. She liked it, she liked the power that came with holding someone's life in her hands. She liked feeding from the source.

She especially like how turned on Klaus looked when she was done, her fangs still protruding from her lips. Caroline purred in delight when he kissed the blood from her lips, the blood from their victims mixing in their mouths before they fell back to his bed, resuming their activities, one quick thrust having him buried inside of her once more, moving. And then she took control again, riding him; and even Klaus admitted then that sometimes giving up control was a good thing...

And waking up in his arms, she had no regrets. They were each other's, forever. Through the good and the bad. Compromise was not only inevitable, it was necessary.

So maybe giving into her nature wouldn't be all that bad. If it meant finally being with him, was it worth it?


	7. Safe Place

_"Love couldn't be moved by circumstance, poor choices, or even blatant lies—skewed and damaged, yes, but the heart couldn't deny what it wanted most once the desire was planted. Whether in bliss or affliction, love owned you all the same."  
― Rachael Wade, The Tragedy of Knowledge_

She hadn't known about the baby. Not until... not until that night; the night that changed everything, really. And she wasn't shocked or angry or any of the other millions of emotions that she could have felt had the circumstances of her finding out been different. But they weren't. Maybe everything had happened for a reason in the grand scheme of things.

And how could she be mad at him, this broken, water logged man, standing outside her apartment? Head bowed, water drifting down his body, pooling at his feet, half turned away from her door as if he expected her to send him away. Muttering after she asked what he was doing there, "I had a child Caroline. She was so... so beautiful. And now she's dead." So matter-of-factly he said it; she could almost believe that he didn't care. That he was unaffected by the loss of a child she hadn't known existed. If she hadn't known him as well as she did; if she hadn't been able to detect the miniscule amount of hurt and sadness that leaked into his voice, the tears he forced down, and she thought wildly that he had never been more human than he was then.

Caroline hadn't even had time to truly processed her emotions after he said that. At a loss for a moment, she eventually acted on instinct, grabbing her keys in one move, and closing the door behind her before she tugged him to her. He clutched her to him, and for a moment she let herself enjoy the feeling of his body pressed against hers, before she pulled back slightly and gripped his hand, bringing him along to her car.

She drove them to her favorite cafe, making sure he was seated at a secluded table before ordering them both drinks, bringing them back and forcing the warm drink into his hands. They drank in silence for a while, well she drank her coffee and stared at him and he stared down at the table, his hands clenching and unclenching, fingers reaching for the cup only to pull away at the last second.

Finally, tired of his continued silence, knowing that even if it hurt him he needed to confide in someone about what happened, and he had come to her after all, she asked softly, "Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head slowly, looking out the window as he crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. She sighed, but she wasn't ready to admit defeat yet. "Klaus, you can talk to me. That's what friends are for. Let me help you." In whatever way you need.

He finally, for the first time since he showed up at her door, looked her in the eye. She could see the red there, the tears threatening to spill over, and her heart broke for him. Klaus set his hands back on the table, and she reached hers out, covering his large hands with her smaller ones. He looked down at their hands for a moment before looking back out the window. "I," He swallowed and she willed herself to be patient for him. "I slept with Hayley. It was just a one time thing, it was supposed to help me..." He trailed off again.

Caroline waited as long as she could, all the while battling an unexpected surge of jealousy, before urging him on. "Help you what?"

He looked her dead in the eye. "Get over you." He faced the window again, and her heart beat wildly. So he had wanted to get over her. Almost as if he knew what she was feeling- hurt, betrayal, sad resignation- and didn't he always? he quickly added. "It didn't work, I doubt any amount of one night stands would erase what I feel for you. Even if I wanted it to, and I don't. Not anymore."

She couldn't help the soft sigh of relief, before she gently said, "What does this have to do with a child Klaus?" _Because in case you didn't notice, we're not supposed to be able to procreate. _

"A 'loophole of nature', that's what the witches called it. Because I'm not a vampire, I'm a hybrid, and there has to be a balance. Hayley got pregnant from our one night together. I hated it Caroline. I hated that child. I never wanted to be a father. I never- I never wanted to chance that I could end up like Mikael." He broke off, looking down at the table again, before he pulled one of his hands out from under hears, gripping her hand instead. "I couldn't let myself care. Elijah wanted me to. Hayley couldn't have cared less, all she's ever cared about is her own life. I avoided everyone for all eight months. And then one night, I heard a cry, and I followed the noise."

A drop of wetness hit her hand, and she nearly jumped in shock before her mind caught up with what was happening and she realized that he was crying. Oh, had she ever really thought that he was incapable of emotions?

"When I saw her, oh god Caroline, it was instant. I loved her. I loved my daughter with my whole being. I never believed that, that fathers loved their children when they saw them, but I did, and I wish I hadn't." His voice hardened as he went on, before softening again. "And then she died, the flu, would you believe it?, and all I could think was that there was only one person who could make me feel like I still wanted to live on. It was you Caroline. It will always be you."

She choked down a sob, rising abruptly and slid into the seat next to him. She wrapped her arms around him, and held him, for hours, before she led him back to her apartment and into her bed. And then she held him until dawn broke through her bedroom window. She would be there for this man, this man who had endured so much hurt and pain, because he always, inexplicably came to her, trusted in her, and she... she loved him. Amidst everything. She was falling in love with him. So she would do her best to comfort him, for as long as he needed. Because if she new one thing, she knew that that was a part of loving someone.


	8. Apologies and Seduction

**Semi- plotless smut for Krissy ;)**

Caroline had never thought that she would be in this position. Being seduced by the original hybrid? Well, that was a stretch, but her seducing him? That was a little much for her to even begin to comprehend. And yet here she was, planning and plotting how exactly to get the man she had feelings for, the man she hoped still had feelings for her, into her bed. Or take her to his bed, she wasn't going to be picky.

And yeah, maybe his... hesitance to even so much as look at her let alone touch her or kiss her or make sweet, slow love to her was in part her fault. She had kind of told Klaus to never talk to her again when she found out about the baby. And when she blamed Tyler's abandonment of her on him. But he was an equally guilty party, right? He had slept with the werewolf and he had been the reason Tyler had left in the first place. He was the easiest person to blame and be angry at and shut out of her life. For about three months.

Stubbornly, or maybe out of a cruel, vindictive desire to hurt Klaus as she had been hurting at the time, she stayed in New Orleans. Befriended Marcel of all people. Hell, she even got close to Rebekah and Elijah. All to be close and yet removed from the person that deep down she really wanted to be with. And then one day, she looked across the bar and looked at him, really looked for the first time in ages. What she saw made her realize that maybe she wasn't the only one in pain.

He looked so tired and sad, and the only thing she wanted to do was cross the room and talk to him. So she did, she got up out of her seat and strode toward him, only for Klaus to look up at the last second and nearly caused his chair to fall to the floor in his haste to exit the bar.

She chose, instead of focusing on the hurt she got from his scorn, to focus on winning him back. Not that she thought she'd really lost him, though a part of her worried about it; she blamed herself for his hasty retreat. The cruel words she had said in the heat of anger. He probably thought she was coming over to tear into him again, and what had she done to prove differently? So, she'd show him how serious she was, that no matter how hard she tried she would always feel something for him. Right or wrong ceased to matter.

Added to that that she hadn't had sex since she'd left Mystic Falls, and that time didn't count since she was almost killed (she had a new rule: date only inside your own species, or half of your species as the case would be; in any case, she felt oddly safe with Klaus so she didn't think she had anything to worry about), and she'd gotten a little desperate.

But she'd reached a bit of a conundrum. How exactly did one go about seducing Klaus? He'd never even tried anything with her, except for that one time in the woods. Did he even want her in that way? Because she'd tried her usual seduction tricks with him in the past when she was sent in to distract him. Low cut shirts, tight fitting jeans, and all he even seemed to care about was talking to her. Short of laying naked on his bed and waiting for him to come home, she wasn't sure what to do.

Maybe that wasn't such a bad idea. What did she have to lose anyway? Aside from her pride and dignity that was.

A twenty minute walk (purposefully going slowly to prolong this) and a glance at his colossus home had her questioning her decision. There had to be another way, a different alternative. What if he... what if he didn't want her?

She squared her shoulders and marched up to the door. If he didn't want her, she'd cross that bridge when she came to it. For now she was going to at least try and not let her insecurities get in the way. She pushed the front door open, she did have an open invitation. From Elijah, but those were just details.

It was easy to find Klaus' room... mostly because she had been in it before when Elijah had given her the grand tour of the place, but again details. She slipped out of her shoes, setting them by the now closed door, shrugged out of her coat and placed it on the chair in front of the fireplace. Her shirt and pants soon joined the pile. Caroline reached her hands behind her back to unclasp her bra when calloused hands stilled her movements. She tensed, prepared to whirl around and fight, but the hands that clasped hers moved, running down her arms.

"What are you doing Caroline?" Klaus' confused voice whispered in her ear, and she let out a sigh of relief before leaning back into him.

"Apologizing." She whispered in return, tilting her head back to kiss his stubbled jaw. He groaned in response and unclasped her bra for her, sliding the straps over her shoulders, leaving her breasts exposed. Not for long though; his large hands moved to palm them. She pressed her hips desperately back into his, felt his erection pressed against her. "I thought you weren't home." She managed to gasp out.

He chuckled, moving his lips down to suck at her neck. "I was showering." Klaus returned to his ministrations, fingers tweaking and pinching at her nipples while his tongue and teeth found her neck one more. "If this is how you intend to apologize to me, I might have to make it a practice of upsetting you."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll do that without trying-ahhhhhhh." She was cut off from teasing him when one of his hands left her breast to slid down her stomach and into her, now soaking, panties. It seemed to be the breaking point for both of them. Klaus' hands gripped her hips, though she whined at the loss of contact, and whirled her around. Their lips collided, tongue and teeth and passion all mixing and fueling together as they stumbled back to the bed. And yet when her back was pressed into his mattress, he broke their contact to tenderly and slowly push down the final barrier between them, leaving her unclothed before his lustful gaze. She took the opportunity to really look at him; muscles that she had refused to look at when he was injured before her, she traced her fingers over a tattoo she hadn't known, or thought, that he would have had.

They seemed to mutually and silently agree that they could learn and appreciate each other later. Almost two years of sexual tension had finally reached the breaking point and they wouldn't be satisfied until they had at least sated their lust. Their lips connected once more, hands roved over the others body. Hips ground against hips. Hot breath mixed together. Bodies intertwined. Finally becoming one.


	9. The Way Things Were

**So, I was watching Supernatural and Candice Accola appeared. And I may have started shipping Dearoline. Then my sister joined in, and begged me to make the Supernatural character that Candice plays actually be Caroline, and to give her both Dearoline and Klaroline. Thus this was born. Some details from both shows have been changed to fit this universe (namely the timeline has been pushed back from that in TVD and Caroline is a sophomore, instead of in the same grade as Dean). Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, or any characters from there.**

**Truman, Virginia- 1997**

Starting over. That's what she was trying to do, and she'd always been closer to her dad anyway. Her parent's had shared custody, and her mom couldn't really say no. Well, she could, Caroline supposed, but she hadn't.

Part of this "new her" she was trying to create, though, required, at least in her mind, that she be completely new. Her dad and Stephen, and his daughter Lacy, lived only three hours from Mystic Falls. It was too close. Someone could know, someone could know who she was, and for once she didn't want to be, "Caroline Forbes, daughter of the sheriff, whose father left them when she was four." No, she would be Amanda Heckerling, using her middle name and Stephen's last name, and she would be happy. Of course she would. She'd date, go to parties, and be happy.

And all her carefully laid plans were shot to hell by a leather clad devil in disguise. Dean Winchester.

He was handsome, all long legs and deep green eyes, and exactly the type of guy Caroline kept falling for again and again. And she fell hard. She shouldn't have, but she did. He liked her, and she hated to admit it, even years later, but she liked that he seemed to only care about her. Dean certainly didn't care for his classes, didn't seem to make other friends, and the only person that Caroline could even think of as somewhat of a rival was his little brother, Sam. But of course that wasn't fair. Sam was just a little boy, and it was through him that she could see that Dean really did care. That he was a human guy. Or maybe he was more. His protective streak for his brother was... amazing. And Caroline hoped that one day he might love her with a small degree of the same emotion and protectiveness that he had for Sam. He just... he seemed so damaged, and she wanted to help him. Make him whole again. Maybe make herself whole again in the process.

But she was wrong, everything she assumed about him was wrong. He didn't only care for her, and he was just like every other bad-guy she'd ever dated. A first class jerk. The same type of guy she had hoped she'd left behind in Mystic Falls, and of course she was wrong.

She caught him in a closet with another girl, and the illusion that she had built, not just about Dean, but about Truman itself, came crashing down.

Caroline missed Mystic Falls. She missed her mom. She missed her room in their little house. She missed Bonnie and Elena and all the stupid school dances that she loved so much. She missed her high school. She missed cheering. And she missed being Caroline Forbes.

It didn't matter that Dean left that day. She loved being with her dad, but if she was being truthful, it was almost the same as being with her mom. He worked long hours, and she rarely saw him.

It was time to go home, and maybe it was time for her to swear off bad-boys too.

**2009- The Impala someone outside of Dallas**

"So get this, they found ten bodies in New Orleans drained of blood." Sam said as he entered the car.

"So vampires, cut and dry. We go in, cut their heads off, and move on to the next case."

"That's what I thought, but the descriptions of the victims only sites two puncture wounds on the neck."

Dean sighed. "Let's go check it out."

**New Orleans**

"Klaus!" Caroline called out, storming through their house, looking for her infuriating boyfriend. "Klaus- There you are! I've been calling for you all over the house and I called you like ten times."

He turned with a smile on his face, and she fought the urge to smile back. She was angry with him. "Sorry love, I was painting and my phone was off. What can I do for you."

"You can get the newborns under control! They're not being discrete, the killings are all over the papers!" She stopped, trying to calm down. "Look, I know that not everyone can stand to feed from blood bags when they're hungry, but I'd rather not bring hunters down on our heads. They're more active now, what with the bloody apocalypse, and these new vampires don't have any control at all."

Klaus approached her, placing his hands on either side on her head, before placing a kiss on her forehead. "Alright love, I'll talk to them."

"Well, that was easier than I thought it would be." She quipped, pulling back to smile up at him.

"Your safety is at stake her Caroline. I can't be killed, but these hunters are very good at what they do, and I won't lose you."

Well, it wasn't exactly what she wanted; she wanted him to want his "subjects"- the word causing an internal eye roll; did the man really always have to be in charge?- to be better. But she would take it, and he had delivered it in a way that she had no choice but to respond by stretching up on her toes and placing a tender kiss on his lips. "Thank you." She breathed as she pulled away, turning to leave him be with his art.

"Would you like to go out with me tonight?" He called to her retreating back, and she paused by the door, turning back to flash him another smile.

"What would be involved in this outing?"

"Oh the usual. Dinner, dancing, drinks. Of the alcoholic and the blood kind. And maybe... dessert?"

She smiled at the implications behind his words. "Well Mr. Mikaelson, you can pick me up at six."

At exactly six, a knock sounded on her door. She smoothed her dress down, fighting down a small twinge of nervousness. It wasn't Klaus, not after nine years with him. It was the idea of feeding, always. Feeding always made her nervous. She enjoyed it, but that was part of the problem. She enjoyed it too much, she loved the feel of plunging her fangs into someones neck and drinking the life force out of them. Caroline shook her head, hoping to chase away such thoughts. Klaus wouldn't let her get that far, he never had. And she trusted him to not let her get that far again.

She pulled open their bedroom door, surprised to find him decked out in an outfit similar to that of what he was wearing on the night when he killed- no that wasn't important anymore. She had forgiven him for that a long time ago. "You clean up good, considering you didn't come in here to get your clothes."

He smirked at her, leaning against the door frame and taking her in with one glance. A glance that sent shivers down her spine in anticipation of what was to come, and let her know just how beautiful she was to him. "Well, you showered and i took the opportunity to get dressed. And there are other showers in this house." He pushed away from the door to approach her, tucking a stray curl that had fallen out of her bun, a nod to the night of the ball at his home, behind her ear.

She pouted a little. "You could have joined me."

He laughed when he leaned down to place a kiss on her cheek. "I'll remember that for next time. Shall we go?" He asked, holding out his arm for her, and she looped her arm through his.

"Lead on."

He took her to their favorite restaurant, a little place that Caroline swore had the best gumbo she'd ever had, to which Klaus would respond that she hadn't had very much in her short life. But he indulged her, and they went there at least once a month. She knew he liked it too though, even though he pretended he was only going for her. Always the gentleman, he pulled her chair out for her, and regaled her with tales from his day, while she caught him up on what they were learning in her art history class, and he corrected any information she was confused with or needed help with.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here."

Caroline stiffened at the voice, a voice that sometimes still haunted her nightmares, even as she watched Klaus' mask of impenetrable leader, immortal hybrid, slip into place. "Marcel." He drawled, leaning back in his chair. "What brings you back here?"

"Its a free country Klaus, or did you forget that in your delusion of leadership."

"Delusion? I am in charge Marcel, and you'd do well to remember that. Caroline, love, why don't you go out to the car while I clear this up, hmmm?"

She smiled prettily, nodding and rising, fighting down her desire to flip Klaus the bird for ordering her around. She understood why he did it, she was basically a politician's wife, but she didn't have to like it. She'd give it to him later, but for now she'd do as he said, especially with Marcel involved.

A dangerous man, a dangerous vampire. He seemed so nice... alluring. And when she had first showed up in New Orleans, she had found comfort and solace in his arms. But that had all ended when it was revealed that the witches and the werewolf girl had been lying. Then Marcel had tried to kill her, torture her really, and Klaus had come to her rescue.

It took a few months, but they'd been together ever since, and she'd never been happier in her life. She was in love with him, and even with everything they had gone through, that wouldn't change.

Still, she didn't want to see Marcel again, and she knew that Klaus was still jealous over the months that Caroline had enjoyed with the former king. Yeah, it was best to leave them to their own devices-

The smell of blood cut through her thoughts. Freshly spilled blood by the smell. Without really paying attention to her actions, she was there, standing above a bleeding man. Bullet wound, her mind processed, he's dying. A bullet wound to the heart. Then she was kneeling beside him, felt her fangs elongate as the veins under her eyes spread. She'd gone too long without feeding, and she couldn't stop herself from plunging her fangs into the man's neck, moaning as the blood hit her tongue. She almost didn't hear his cries of pain... she did however hear the running footsteps approaching her.

She flashed up, snarling at the intruders. She was hungry and they were interrupting her meal. She saw long knives in the two men's hands, and she laughed. Did they really think they could harm her with those?

"Amanda?" That caused her pause, and through the bloodlust, she saw him. Dean. A grown up Dean, but Dean nonetheless.

"Dean," She breathed, finally clearing her mind enough to push the hunger back, feeling her fangs sink back into her gums and the veins beneath her eyes recede, even as her mind processed that he must be a hunter, which explained how he dispeared. "What are you doing here?"

"Well see, Sam here and I were looking into some murders here. Murders by vampires, but not like any vampire we'd seen before. Only two fangs? Had to be just a freak ganking people for fun. Then we saw you, and well, guess we didn't know as much about the world as we thought we did. When'd it happen Amanda? When'd you turn into... this?"

"Dean-"

"When, Amanda?" She flinched as he voice raised, and taking a deep breath, she explained.

"A year after I met you. I had no idea about vampires or what was happening to me. I completed the transition, and I've been this way ever since. But I try Dean, I try so hard not to hurt people."

"Really? What about what we just saw? Cause that looked like you were hurting someone."

"I haven't fed in a while, normally my boyfriend's with me and he makes sure I don't go too far, but I smelled his blood and I had trouble controlling myself."

"Well I'm sorry, but I can't risk it. I kill monsters that hurt people and you fall under that." He nodded his head, and Caroline was alerted to the fact that Sam, or at least she assumed it was Sam, was no longer standing beside Dean. And there was a looming presence behind her. She weighed her options. She could attack them, incapacitate them, bring them to the house and explain further. Or she could try to talk them down here.

"Dean, please, don't do this-"

"Save it. We have to." He approached, knife raised, when a voice stopped them all.

"I wouldn't." Low, menacing, power in the two short words, and her body sagged in relief. "The girl's with me mate, and you don't want to know what happens to people that hurt those that I love." She ran to him, and he hugged her quickly while Sam and Dean exchanged glances at her speed. Klaus placed her behind him, turning his gaze back to the men. "I'll say this once; the situation here is under control. It's not Caroline's fault. If you lay a hand on her, I will kill you and anyone you've ever had contact with. Are we clear?"

"Caroline?" Dean asked, and Caroline almost rolled her eyes. Of course he would focus on that, and not the fact that his life had just been threatened.

"My actual name, Dean. Amanda is my middle name."

"The things you find out about people."

She smiled at him tentatively. "I promise Dean, I don't want to hurt people. I just, was dealt a hand and I'm doing the best I can with it."

Dean sighed, lowering his weapon finally, and Sam did the same. "I can understand that. It was good seeing you again Ama- Caroline. And I'm sorry for this, and for what happened twelve years ago."

"Thank you. It was good to see you again Dean, and you too Sam." She moved out from behind Klaus' back, ignoring his protests. She bit into her wrist as she approached the bleeding man, still hanging onto life, giving him the healing power of her blood. She then compelled him to forget her, and what he had seen happen between the four of them. He walked off in a daze, returning home to his family, and Caroline turned back to the men. "Klaus and I know a great bar, would you like to join us?"

It was far past time she left some things in the past, like the way Dean had treated her, and maybe she could show him that not all non-humans were monsters. That she could be normal and herself. She went back to Klaus, looping her arm through his, whispering "I'll explain later," before motioning the two hunters with her hands.

After all, vampires and hunters had been friends before.


	10. Over You

**AU/AH Klaroline Drabble**

**WARNINGS: Character death, Physical Illness (please excuse my ill knowledge and some details that I myself have fabricated for the purposes of this drabble). Mentions of child abuse.**

Klaus Mikaelson. Semi-renowned artist, entrepreneur, but the only title he cared for was husband. To the girl of his dreams really. Caroline.

They met in college, and he fell head over heels in love with her. Of course, given his personal background, a horrible family life, he couldn't quite let his armor down or admit the feelings he harbored for her. Even to himself. If he was being honest, he would have to admit that he was rather horrible to her and her friends. Protective instinct did not always make his life easier, like he wanted it to. He couldn't really blame her for hating him. He pursued her, amidst sleeping through her group of friends. The Gilbert triplets, Bonnie Bennett, and, an especially low moment for him, sleeping with the girl he knew Caroline had caught her ex-boyfriend with.

After that, after a screaming match that left her in tears and him thinking there would never be a chance for them, now that he wanted it, now that he was willing to admit that he really, really liked this girl, he tried better. Bought her jewelry (that he really couldn't afford and that she didn't want), flowers, tickets to movies and shows. Nothing seemed to work with her though, none of his usual tricks. But she wasn't like any other girl he had ever been with, was she? And he didn't just want a one night stand with her. He wanted long term. Maybe the best way to do that was to get to know her.

So he did. He talked to her in class, got to know her hopes (she wanted to be a news journalist or a news anchor, but she'd always had a soft spot for art) and her dreams (she wanted to see the world, get married, have kids). And little by little, she managed to remove the armor he had so carefully surrounded himself with. An abusive step father. Three dead siblings. A mother who didn't want him because he was a reminder of the affair that she wanted to forget. Not one but two finances that slept with his brother Elijah. All those things, while still hurting him, didn't seem to rule his life as much with her. And she understood in part what it felt like to be abandoned my parents; her father left when she was four, and even though she loved him, they rarely talked, and her mother immersed herself in work after their divorce, both because of the separation itself and from finding out the man she had been with for ten years had been living a double life.

In the end, she was the one to ask him out. And for the first time in a long time, Klaus found himself in an actual relationship. And miracle of miracles he enjoyed it. Before either of them really knew what was going on, they had moved in together. Oh they fought, they fought all the time. About important things ("Nik, you need to open the cards your sister sends you!"; "Caroline, you need to go to the doctor's when you're sick!"), and less important things ("Do you have to use your computer in bed?"; "Could you not leave your shoes all over the apartment?"). But neither of them would have said that they were unhappy in that time period.

He bought a ring exactly six months after they started dating.

He waited though, bided his time, half expecting her to give up on him. To wake up one day and find her stuff packed and gone. Yet, two years later when they both graduated, he had to admit that she was probably around to stay. He proposed, and was nearly tackled to the ground, a flurry of kisses assaulting his cheeks as she murmured over and over again "yes" and "took you long enough you scruffy British idi-", before he finally captured her lips with his own.

They were married by a judge not two weeks later. They were together and they both wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, so why should they wait?

She was beautiful that day, not that she wasn't beautiful everyday. Not that he didn't appreciate seeing her sleep mussed hair every morning. Not that he didn't think she was beautiful when she was dressed in sweats, or dresses, or jeans and a top. He always thought she was beautiful. But there was something about seeing her in that knee length white dress that made him certain that she had never been more beautiful. Maybe it was the smile on her face, knowing that it was all for him.

Only her friends were there to witness the ceremony, somehow able to forgive what he had done, and all for the love of Caroline. He was surprised though, Stefan and Damon, whom he had never met before that day, and who were Katherine and Elena Gilbert respectively, were, well, surprisingly nice to him. The surprise lasted until later that day at their reception, located at their favorite little Italian restaurant, when Stefan thanked him for giving him and his brother the necessarily jealous push to go after the girls that they had been pining over since high school.

They honeymooned in their new home, courtesy of a decent commission Klaus had received and a trust fund from a long dead relative that Caroline had been able to claim when she turned twenty one.

Caroline's mother Liz came to visit them a month after their wedding, smiles and happiness that her only child had gotten married, but Klaus could see the disappointment lurking there. Disappointment that she hadn't been invited. His own issues aside, he couldn't help feeling a little insulted for his new wife. From what he understood, she had had to take care of herself. Her mother a background character in her life who rarely returned phone calls. Still, he found himself enjoying his mother-in-law's company. She was so different from his own mother, and her failings aside, he could see the love she held for her daughter.

With her departure, Caroline again brought up the subject of his own ill-communication with any member of his family. "Do they even know we're married Klaus?" They didn't, but not for the reasons Caroline assumed. Not because he was ashamed of her. She was the best thing in his life, the best thing that had ever happened to him. How could she even think that he would ever be ashamed of her? No, he was ashamed of his family. Dysfunctional to an extreme. Bickering, angry, unable to have a single conversation without things turning to yelling and punching and blaming. And a part of him feared that Mikael's words of contention against him would drive Caroline away as it had driven Celeste and Camille away. Into the arms of his brother.

And then other things started to concern the both of them.

Caroline began to lose weight, for seemingly no reason. Her eating habits stayed the same, so he ruled out an eating disorder, but he still worried. She brushed him off though.

"I'm not going to go to the doctor's just because I've lost a little weight, Klaus." She would say every time he brought up that option.

Then her father called, for the first time since she had gone to college, with news. He was sick, dying. Kidney cancer. He had been given six months at the most. It was too late to treat. Stage III. Didn't respond to chemo or radiation therapy. Snippets were what Klaus caught amidst Caroline's sobs. For all her father's abandonment for his new husband and his new daughter and his new life, Caroline hadn't really tried all that much to reach out to her father either. And she regretted it now.

For three months, she spent her time going back and forth between their home in upstate New York and her father's home in Northern Virginia. Klaus understood. Missed her dearly, he hadn't understood until then how much she had become ingrained into his life, but he understood. She needed this time with her dying father.

He called his sister for the first time since he had left their childhood home in London five years before to strike out on his own in America. He had missed Rebekah; she had been his best friend. And it wasn't until he was missing the presence of another blond that he realized how much he missed his sister. They talked for hours, sharing their lives with each other until the early hours of the morning. Rebekah cried when he told her he was married, and he did the typical "protective older brother" act when she told him she was seeing someone and things were getting pretty serious.

When he called Caroline that night, a nightly ritual, she cried when he told her of his reconciliation with his sister. And he longed to be there with her when she said, tears evident in her voice still, that her father didn't have very long left.

Two weeks later, he was flying out to join his wife. Suit packed and ready for the next day, along with a black dress for Caroline. He finally held her in his arms again and comforted her as best he could when she cried herself to sleep that night.

She didn't eat the next day, but he chalked it up to grief. As well as her headaches, her continued weight loss, and her extreme fatigue. He couldn't consider any other possibility.

Until, late one night as she finally slept, he looked up the type of cancer Bill had had. Horror growing as the symptoms listed fit her symptoms exactly. And though he felt foolish at trusting the search results. Still, he felt it was far past time that she go to a doctor.

And for once, she agreed easily enough. Dr. Fell suggested they see a genetic counselor to rule out hereditary papillary renal carcinoma, one of the few Kidney related hereditary cancers.

They both felt hopeful though. Bill had probably just had a kidney cancer. Caroline was just grieving. They would live long lives together. They would go to Europe and get a bigger house and have kids and get a dog. There wasn't anything else that could possibly happen with them, right?

Wrong, so, so wrong.

Not only did Caroline have the mutated gene required for the disease, ultrasound revealed that she already had a growth forming.

Stage III. Six months to live. Early onset. No way to predict the age in which the cancer appears. Chemotherapy and radioactive treatment has no effect on kidney cancers. Any attempt to remove the growth won't necessarily remove the cancer at this stage. We can give quality of life not quantity at this point.

He remembers nothing later but the feeling of rage. He'd find someone to fix this. He'd call Mikael, Ester, Elijah, if he had to. He'd face down his family if it meant getting the inheritance he was entitled to. The inheritance that could pay for her to have the best medical care possible.

Until she stopped him, calm in the face of everything. "I just watched my dad die from this Klaus. Nothing you can do is going to stop it, and even if you could do anything, you heard the doctor."

Oh, he'd heard the doctor all right, but he couldn't- he wouldn't- give up on her life. He wasn't going to go through life without her.

His life was spinning out of control. The only thing that had ever kept him sane was his ability to maintain a semblance of control over situations, decisions. But this? He couldn't control the disease that was slowly, that had been for god knows how long, taking his Caroline from him. Klaus hadn't had enough time with her, no amount of time would ever be enough with her. And she was slipping through his fingertips, so calm in the face of her inevitable demise.

So he did the reasonable thing. He threw himself into his art. But her, only her. Hundreds of sketches, enough to last a lifetime- but only his- of her in every position imaginable. Sitting on the couch, huddled under a blanket. Rereading her favorite book. On a horse for the first time. And for the first time in his life, he found that picture images were better than drawings, going so far as to buy himself a state of the art camera to capture her. And she endured it all, for him he knew. He needed this though, he needed to document their last months together. It felt like the only thing he could control. A medium to have his control back.

She admitted to him one night that really she was afraid of death, and he held her, murmuring that it would be alright, even though it wouldn't.

Her friends and relatives poured in to say goodbye, and he couldn't stand it. His matra had become that a miracle would happen. She was too good to be removed from the world. People like him, they deserved to die. She didn't. She was so full of life and love. She deserved to have it. To have it all. She would not die.

And yet he could not deny that she was deteriorating right in front of him.

They moved into her childhood home. Liz wanted to help take care of her daughter, and Caroline missed home.

She took him to pick out a funeral plot with her. He bought two with the last of his savings. He might not be able to leave the world with her, but he would be damned if he wasn't buried next to her in death. One day.

Caroline Forbes Mikalson. Aspiring journalist. Former Miss Mystic Falls. Niklaus Mikaelson's wife. Titles she loved. She was proud to die with them.

His beautiful young wife left the world one night, peacefully in her sleep. He was almost glad. Simple tasks had become painful for her. Eating, sitting, lying down, going to the bathroom. All of it had hurt her by those last few weeks. At least, at least she wasn't in pain anymore. But he was.

He was in so much pain. A part of him died with her that day. A part of him would never recover from this loss. The loss of her. The loss of her smile and her beauty lighting up his dark life. She was gone from him.

The funeral was small. Family and friends only.

He tried to maintain an air of being strong. But he couldn't. He just couldn't do it, and he broke down in tears when Elena got up to speak and started crying herself, Damon having to eventually go up and escort his finance back to their seats.

None of it mattered though. Nothing would ever matter again, the most important person in his life was gone. And all that remained of her was her corpse, buried in the earth.

"Nik," a voice said, tears evident, but he would recognize that voice anywhere.

"Bekah," he murmured, turning around to find his sister, dressed in black, a hesitant look on her face. He ignored it, almost rushing to her in his attempt to wrap her in his arms.

He cried into her shoulder, the first time he could remember crying in front of her since he was five and she was three and she broke his favorite toy. "She's gone, Bekah."

Her hands squeezed him to her harder. "I know Nik. I came as soon as I heard."

"Niklaus." Another recognizable voice, followed by yet another, "Nik." Sympathy clear in both their voices as he raised his head to face down both of his living brothers.

"Elijah, Kol, what are you-"

"Rebekah told us. And regardless of the bad blood between us, we were going to be here for our brother. Always and forever, remember?"

He did remember. But as much as he still loved him siblings, as much as he felt a small surge of happiness that they cared enough about him to come and try to give him comfrot, it didn't change a thing. The only person he had really wanted to spend eternity with was gone. Dead- and oh how that pained him to admit it. And the only way he could follow was if he died himself. But he couldn't do that, he had to live for her at least.

But he would never get over her. And there would never be another for him. She was it for him, and he would not betray her.


	11. In Other Words

**Requested angst. Warning: people will die. Who exactly remains to be seen. AU/AH. Again, please forgive my alterations to history to serve my own purposes.**

**Fill my heart with song?**

**Let me sing forever more**

**Because you are all I long for**

**All I worship and I adore**

**Frank Sinatra- Fly Me to the Moon**

**New Orleans, 2000**

_"Why'd you never get married grand-mère? And where is grand-père? Why have I never gotten to meet him?"_

_The old woman straightened, turning toward the inquisitive gaze of her one and only grandchild, the child of her only son. Sometimes…. sometimes she felt nothing but pain looking at the girl's face. She looked so like another, long lost._

_"Oh Nicola, that's a very long story." She said with a sigh, lowering herself into a chair._

_"But I want to hear it!" The grandmother chuckled, unperturbed by the girl's attitude. She was ten, and maybe it was past time she knew anyway. And her stubbornness was so like her father's and her grandfather's._

_"Alright my darling, I'll tell you the story."_

_Nicola clapped her hands excitedly. "Does it start with once upon a time?"_

_"All the best stories do, don't they? So, once upon a time…"_

A great war broke out between the nations of the world. It was a time of great sacrifice, great loss, and, a miracle amidst everything else, great love.

Caroline Forbes grew up in a little town in France. She'd always hoped for a chance to be better, to do something better, and she found her opportunity in the war. She volunteered as a nurse, helping the wounded soldiers that were brought in. For the first time in her life, she left her home. Only to be faced with how horrible the world could truly be.

It was hard work, and she saw things that she'd never thought to see before. Bodies of men so damaged… so very damaged. But she stayed. She wanted to help, to fix things in whatever way she could.

One day, after a particularly bad attack, they bodies were brought in, body after body, and Caroline didn't know how they would be able to help them all. The casualties from the waiting period alone….

There was a man though. Shot five times, and yet somehow, with massive blood loss, major burns to his legs, suspected chemical inhalation, he managed to hold on. Unconscious, but alive.

She was assigned to care for him; his injuries, the extent of them, made the other nurses squeamish. She was the only one who really seemed to genuinely care for him. It didn't mean she didn't have other duties still, because she did, but her primary concern became the nameless, broken man. Every day, she cleaned and changed the bandages on his wounds. As the hospital filled with less and less men, either through death or recovery, her time became consumed with him.

She read to him from her favorite works, mostly Charles Dickens, and was glad for her education in English when a soldier from his unit came in and identified the man. Sergeant Niklaus Mikaelson. Proud member of the 3rd Infantry Division. Decorated soldier and war hero. He'd saved countless lives in his time in the army. A natural-born leader. He would recover, she was assured by Sergeant Stefan Salvatore. He always did.

So she sat and waited for him to do just that. But she couldn't help, even though she knew she should stop the budding feelings, being attracted to him. His scared face, while she knew that that might repulse the friends she had back home, was all the more beautiful to her for them. They told a story, a story of his life and his adventures. He was handsome too, she could see it.

Caroline was there when he woke up. His striking blue eyes flashing open suddenly, and she called for the doctor, moving away from him, but a strong hand moved quickly, surprisingly fast for an injured man, grabbing her hand. His mouth opened as she turned back to him, working his dry throat, and she moved to give him some water. He accepted it gratefully, muttering one word before knocking out once more. "_Henrik."_

To say the least, it hadn't been what she was expecting. Who was this Henrik? Why was that the first thing on his mind? Questions that could only be answered by the man himself. She waited impatiently for him to wake up once more, but her waiting was interrupted by her own need for sleep, and the head nurse ushering her out with a "You're no good to us dead, so rest up!"

When she returned to the medical tent two days later, it was to find the Sergeant sitting up, a look of extreme concentration on his face. And she could see the pain that he was trying to hide. Then, his gaze found hers across the room, his entire face lighting up in response as a slow smile spread over his lips. She couldn't help but smile back, urging herself to go faster, to get to him sooner.

"You're the nurse that's been caring for me?" He croaked out when she was at the foot of his bed, and she nodded in response. "Thank you, love."

"I'm Caroline, and I'm so glad to see that you're doing better."

"All thanks to you I'm sure."

She blushed in response, even as she leaned over his to check his bandages. "You seem to do fairly well on your own."

"I'm going to have to chalk it up to being in your presence then." She shot him another look at that, and they both burst out in laughter, until he grabbed his side in pain. She fussed over him for several more minutes, even forgetting herself momentarily and pushing his hair back from his eyes, until she decided that he would be fine.

"When you woke up, you said a name. Henrik?" She prodded, watching as worry flashed briefly in his eyes.

"My brother. My youngest brother. He has great aspirations of being a soldier and fighting, but he's only fifteen. I received a letter just before the-" He paused for a moment in his explanation, his breathing labored, and she waited patiently for him to continue, even offering him water first which he gladly accepted. "Just before the battle. He said something about wanting to join the front lines. That was all I could picture the entire-"

"Week." She supplied.

"Yes, thank you. The entire week that I was out. I can't- all I could think of was what if something bad happened to him just because I joined the forces."

"Why would it be your fault?"

He let out a short, humorless laugh. "My father, if you can call him that, is a member of the House of Lords. My other brothers wouldn't have dreamed of joining the army, nor would they have had to. But I wanted to get away. Henrik has always been my shadow though, always wanting to do everything I do."

"Oh, I see. So if he came-"

"It would be because I joined first."

"You can't blame yourself though-" She floundered for a second wondering what exactly she was supposed to call him.

"Nik."

"What?"

"Call me Nik, sweetheart."

"Oh! Alright then, Nik. You can't blame yourself. People make choices, and sometimes they happen because of something that we do, but we all still have the power to choose."

He didn't respond, so in resignation she turned to go perform her other tasks. A quiet voice stopped her. "I'm glad I joined though. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have met you." And she walked away with a smile on her face.

The next day, she came prepared, pencil and paper in hand. He looked at the tools in confusion until she said, "I can write to your family, if you'd like. Let them know that you're okay."

The smile he offered her let her know that she had made the right choice.

He was sweet, and she was so glad that she'd made the choice to give him a chance. She noticed though that a cold mask slipped into place whenever they were joined by anyone else. He asked about things she had never been asked about; her hopes and dreams for the future, the places she wanted to see. He even promised to take her around the world with him. She jokingly said that he'd have to propose to her first. With utter seriousness, he replied, "Maybe I will."

When news of another battle came in, every bed was needed. Caroline offered her house and her bed to the still recovering man that she was falling for.

"I'm sorry for stealing your bed."

"Oh its fine. Its for a worthy cause after all." She assured with a smile. When she walked away, in a motion similar to their first actual meeting, he grabbed her hand, but this time he spun her back around to face him. In her surprise, she almost didn't respond when their lips collided. Almost. He was very good at kissing, and she didn't know how anyone would not respond to him, the soft pressure he applied, coaxing her lips open gently. "Nik-" She breathed breaking away. "We can't-"

"I know its not proper. I know it will ruin you. But I love you Caroline, and I've learned not to lose any time. I'll marry you, if you'll have me, but I want this one night."

"I wasn't saying no. You're hurt, and I don't want to hurt you worse."

"So we'll go slow. You stay on top, and I'll let you know if I can't go on anymore. Please though Caroline. _Please._"

She couldn't resist him. She didn't want to.

_"You seemed so happy grand-mère. What happened?"_

_"Life my darling. Life."_

It happened so quickly. Caroline was called in when the bodies poured in once more. And Nik joined her, jokingly claiming that he didn't want anyone else making a move on his girl. All jokes faded though when they entered the tent, and he ran as best he was able to a bedside. She knew enough to know the boy- because that's what he was, still baby-faced and obviously young- was dead. And her hand came to her mouth in horror when she heard Nik whisper, "Henrik."

_"His brother died?"_

_"Yes. And he blamed me."_

_"What! Why?"_

_"When people are hurting, its easy to place blame on people. Even on the people that we love. That's what happened. I wrote the letter. I told Henrik where we were. And he came. And he died."_

_"Oh grand-mère." Nicola breathed. "That's horrible."_

_"I understand, now. It hurt so much then, though. I was in love, I was young, a war was raging. I was all alone in the world suddenly, spurned by the man I loved. And I was pregnant with your father." Nichol's birth had been painful; she was a poor nurse, unmarried. The social stigma alone… and she had almost bled to death in labor. "I moved to America after that. I knew that I could never really be accepted in Europe, not unmarried and with a child. And that's how we got here."_

_"You never saw him again?"_

_"No, love, I never saw him again. But what hurts the most is that I never got to tell him that I love him. He'll never know how much he was loved."_

**So I don't think this was as sad as the last one, but it was angsty still, right? *Offers hugs and chocolates and the promise of happy things that might come eventually***


	12. Some Things Last a Long Time

**Warnings: Smut, Angst, Character death**

_I think about you often_

_I can't forget all the things we did_

_~Some things Last a Long TIme, Beach House_

* * *

"I hear congratulations are in order."

Klaus turned at the voice; he had hoped, dreamed, that it would happen. Maybe like this. Maybe exactly like this. But he had never thought that his wild imaginings would ever come to pass. "Caroline," he breathed, feeling at once apprehension and elation. "What are you doing here?"

She approached, hips swaying, and he fought the desire to look over all of her. To let his eyes linger where the dress she was wearing clung to her curves. When she stopped several feet in front of him, he had to fight the urge to close the distance. To feel her body beneath his hands. And then beneath his body. "I told you. I heard congratulations were in order." She stopped to offer him a smile. "You got what you wanted."

"Not everything." The words slipped through his lips before he could stop them, the knowing look she shot him telling him that she knew exactly who he was referring to. She should after all. It was her. "Was that all you came here for then?" He tried to muster some shred of the facade he gave everyone else; calm, in control, dangerous under the surface. It wouldn't fool her though; when had it ever? She saw through even his strongest defenses.

She shook her head slowly, some of her curls slipping from her loose bun. He longed to push it back, to undo her hair. To feel the silky strands slip through his fingers. What had she done to him? What was she doing to him? "No." She fiddled with her hands, casting her eyes down. "I, ummm," She breathed and he had to force down his impatience. "I want to be with you!" She finally blurted, much to his shock.

"You want to be with me? After thirty years?" None of this made sense, not her appearance, and certainly not the words falling out of her pretty mouth. It was all too good to be true. "It's because I'm king isn't it? Is that what you like, Caroline? Power? What if I don't want you?"

Caroline could see him shut off himself from her the moment the words she had fought back for so long came out of her mouth. It was the only reason she didn't run from the room when he asked her that. She knew him better now, could see when he was trying to protect himself from being hurt. "It's not because you're king now, Klaus." She said it softly, trying to comfort, hoping he would hear the truth in her words, and see the truth in her eyes. "It was the reason I was finally able to get myself to come to you, because I had an excuse. But I've wanted to be with you for a… a very long time now."

"If you're lying to me," he ground out, and she closed the distance between them. Reached a hand up to caress his cheek.

"I'm not. I want nothing more than to be here. With you. For as long as you'll have me."

He lowered his head, dipping toward her lips. "I hope that you're aware that that will be for a very long time."

"I'm counting on it." She stretched up on her toes, placing a soft kiss on his waiting lips. At least, she intended for it to be soft; they should talk some more, shouldn't they? But he seemed to have other ideas, not that she was complaining, as he deepened the kiss. His tongue swept out, tracing over her lips. He nibbled on her bottom lip, and that was enough for her to open up to him. Caroline was lost after that.

She was glad that she'd found him in his room; with a small shove, he landed on his bed. She shook her head at him when he tried to rise up. She stepped out of her heels, kicking them aside, then reached behind her to tug the zipper of her dress down. Something stopped her from stripping the dress from her body though; she wanted him to undress her, and she wanted to undress him. Caroline moved to the bed and stood in between his legs. Her fingers found the bottom of his shirt, and she tugged it up over his head. For the first time, she could give into a desire long repressed.

She looked at him. She appreciated his form. She kissed the tattoo on his chest. She touched him.

Klaus pushed the sleeves of her dress down, and she stepped back slightly so he could push it off of her. It pooled at her feet, and she blushed as his eyes looked over her body. He let out a growl before he tugged her to him, flipping so he was on top. She ran her hands over his chest and stomach… down to the button on his pants. A simple flick, and it was open. He smiled at her, tender and loving, dipping his head to kiss the exposed parts of her breasts. His tongue did wild things to her, and a shiver went down her spine. "You," His fingers reached behind her, easily undoing the clasp of her bra, the word punctuated by a soft kiss, a jolt of his hips into hers, and she bit back a moan. "Are so," He moved back, and she pouted for the loss of him, causing his smile to widen. Then her bra was gone, his fingers finding one taut nipple, his tongue the other. "So beautiful."

From there, it was a blur of touches. His fingers pushed her lace panties aside, stroking her nub. Working her up more, if that was even possible. Then he pushed a finger into her.

"Again, Caroline, say my name like that again." And he worked her until she screamed out his name, her body clenching around the two fingers that ended up being inside of her, her hips still rocking against his hand, longing to prolong the wonderful feelings he had brought out of her.

"I want you," She breathed out, and that seemed to be enough motivation for him to strip down, her shaking hands trying to help him. In his impatience, he nearly ripped the underwear off of her.

And then he was inside of her, his length hitting all the right spots. They moved together, Klaus pushing into her, and her hips reaching up to take him in more. Their lips found each other again, their hands gripped the other closer. The bed creaked under them, and in the back of her mind, Caroline hoped that there wasn't anyone else in the house to hear the sounds the two of them were making.

And then that didn't matter because all there was for her was him.

* * *

They found an easy rhythm after that. She stayed with him in New Orleans, and while they didn't define their relationship as being boyfriend and girlfriend (Caroline nearly laughed every time she considered the word and him in the same sentence; it wasn't that he couldn't be, it just didn't seem enough) everyone knew that they were together. That Caroline was protected. That she was to be given nearly the same amount of respect as Klaus himself.

He spent his days taking care of "his" city; she spent hers in various activities. She went to school, just to have something to do, on some days. Others she spent shopping. Sometimes she joined Klaus in his activities.

They always spent their nights together, though.

Neither had been exactly chaste in their time apart, but they were together now and they both joked that they had finally managed to ruin the other for all others. Jealousy flared from time to time, but they always worked through it. They fought, all the time; over his attitude toward people, and her attitude toward how he treated people. They always seemed to work through whatever problems they had, though, and for a very long time, they were happy. Together.

She said the words he most wanted to hear when he least expected it. He had brought her a present, a regular occurrence, placing the small box on her lap and disrupting her reading. "What's this?" She asked, turning her head back to him, raised eyebrow and all. He moved around the couch, lifting her legs up so he could sit down, placing them back over his lap.

"Open it."

Caroline set the book aside, flipping over the lid. "A key?" Confusion was clear in her voice, and on her face, as she glanced at him questioningly.

"It's a key to a house in the city." He responded cryptically.

Dread filled her. "Are you kicking me out?"

Realization dawned on his features, and both his hands moved to cup her cheeks. "No, no, of course not. It's not for you exactly. It's for your mother."

"You bought my mom a house?" She swallowed back the tears that were rising. How was it possible that this was the same man who had terrorized her town? The man that killed vampires just the week before for not obeying his rule?

"Well, yeah. I thought since she wasn't doing so well, you'd like to have her closer, and there aren't any more rooms her, and I figured you wouldn't want her around a lot of vampires-" He stopped when she shot forward, flinging her hands around his neck.

She placed a kiss on his cheek. "I love you." The words slipped out of their own volition, and they both moved back to stare at the other in shock. Then he was kissing her, his hands fisting in her hair.

"Say it again," He breathed against her lips.

"I love you, Klaus."

He pushed her down, hovering over her. His hips ground into hers, and she groaned at the contact.

When they were done, their clothes strewn about the room, Caroline deciding that she would have said the words much sooner if she had known that the sex would be that great (except she wouldn't change a thing ever, not really; it had been perfect and _right_ and that was all that really mattered. Mind blowing sex aside.), and then Klaus pressed a kiss against her neck.

"I love you too."

* * *

"I'll be fine, Klaus." She said the next morning, exasperated that they were still having this conversation. "You're needed here, and my mom can't take a plane. I'll be there and back before you're even able to miss me."

"Doubtful, love." He shook his head. "I don't want you to be somewhere where I can't protect you."

She won in the end though. They kissed goodbye, Klaus asking her one last time to wait until he could go with her. She shook her head at him, kissing him again. "I love you, but you're crazy overprotective sometimes."

"I love you, but you seem to not realize that I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

"Well, that's never going to happen, so stop worrying about it."

* * *

Ten hours later, she pulled her car into a gas station in some middle-of-nowhere town. She glanced around nervously, then shook her head at herself. She was a vampire for crying out loud! She could take whatever-

"Excuse me miss, I'm short cash. Do you think you could part with a few bucks?"

Caroline turned, annoyed that she had been so distracted that she hadn't noticed anyone approach, ready to turn the man down. The kindly voice had been deceiving, she thought, when she found a stake pressed against her chest, the shock making her unable to respond to the threat appropriately, giving the stranger, a hunter she realized, the needed time to force the stake into her. It was painful, and oh so fast. Her body hit the pavement when he pulled the weapon out of her and pushed her away. She hadn't expected it to be so painful. It felt like hours, but was really seconds.

"Klaus," was the last thing she would ever say, as inaudible as it was. The last breath she took was to say the name of the man she had finally come to love. Her last thought was that the world was a cold, cruel place.

* * *

He had hoped that the vampire had been wrong. It wasn't possible. She couldn't be dead. There were so many things... he's promised her the world.

He couldn't deny it though, not with her body in front of him.

Klaus sat on the ground calmly. He pulled her body to him, scooping her into his lap. He soothed the hair back from her face. He rocked her gently. She would be okay. She had to be okay. She finally loved him; they were going to be together for a long, long time.

He didn't notice the tears running down his cheeks and onto her lifeless body.

* * *

** I might write smut without angst. One day. Eventually. Maybe. I apologize for this. **


End file.
